WHAT?

TIMSS, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, is designed to help countries all over the world improve student learning in mathematics and science. It collects educational achievement data at the fourth and eighth grades to provide information about trends in performance over time together with extensive background information to address concerns about the quantity, quality, and content of instruction.

WHY?

TIMSS provides important information for policy development, to foster public accountability, to allow areas of progress or decline in achievement to be identified and monitored, and to address concerns for equity.

WHO?

Nearly 50 countries from all over the world participated in TIMSS 2003. A project of the IEA, based in Amsterdam, TIMSS is directed by the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College in collaboration with a worldwide network of organizations and representatives from the participating countries.

WHEN?

TIMSS 2003 data collection results were released December 14, 2004. The first round of TIMSS, which is conducted on a four-year cycle, was in 1995 and the second in 1999. The fourth round of TIMSS was conducted in 2007.